In the halcyon days of the NHL, players were unquestioned heroes to their fans. Hockey Night in Canada was the dominant Saturday-night entertainment in households across the country. Players were judged on their points totals, shutouts, wins or losses. It was all about what happened on the ice. Back then, kids collected autographs outside rinks after games, and the players would climb onto their trains or buses and disappear from public view until next time.
Of course, behind the scenes players drank, smoked, cheated on their wives, broke laws and got into all kinds of trouble. Beat writers, privileged to travel with the team, had relationships with these guys that often meant misbehaviour ended up in the dead-letter file. Most fans had no idea.
Today's world is very, very different. The kids who used to collect hockey cards and wait for Saturday night while they played shinny on the local pond now have cell phones and social media accounts. Players can't go anywhere in public without a camera recording their every move and there are legions of websites and outlets to publish them.
The hunger for more and more information about players is different too. Fans want to know what their favourites' apartments look like, where they eat, where they stay on the road, what they like to do in their spare time...and their politics. Kids who want to be just like their hockey heroes are paying attention.
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With that ubiquity comes responsibility, regardless of whether the players want it. These guys have real influence, and their public behaviour and beliefs matter.
So, when the Staals decide not to wear a Pride jersey on the one night a year dedicated to respect for the LGBTQ community because of their "beliefs," kids notice. They absorb the fact that not everyone believes in respect for all people, yet they still succeed and make lots of money.
When Alexander Ovechkin proudly poses with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, he's telling his fans he sides with oppression and tyranny, but holding those ideals doesn't make a difference to his success.
When George Parros lets blatant infractions slide because a player is a "star," or the league needs that player for PR purposes, it's telling kids only some people have to pay the price for wrongdoing. It's telling them the rules are malleable. Then we end up with eight-year-olds in the midst of a bench-clearing brawl that goes viral and encourages the next one.
When Carey Price wrongly claims the Canadian government is taking people's guns away and is limiting the rights of hunters, he gives right-wingers who want to remove bans on hand guns and assault weapons a spokesperson. Young fans see their hero being "wronged" by the government, and they take his side.
When Wayne Gretzky sucks up to the denizen of Mar-a-Lago, he's telling people he doesn't respect Canadian sovereignty and enjoys hanging out with one of the worst people in history.
And when Matthew Tkachuk gushes about how meeting the corrupt, evil American president is better than winning the Stanley Cup, smart fans know he's a callous dunce without empathy. He still gets to play in the Olympics and stand as an example to people who want to be like him.
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No human on this earth is perfect. Every one of us has influences, history, biases and ideals. For most of us, our words and behaviours affect only the others in our personal circles. We may share our views with our families, friends and co-workers. Sometimes we reach strangers online who can accept or ignore our statements because we're just randos on the internet.
When you're a hero, though, people...especially young people...take you seriously. They're just forming their personalities and opinions, and NHL players can influence that process.
Nobody ever said it was easy to be a hero, especially if you didn't want to be one. However, if you're an NHL player in today's world, you are one. And part of that involves responsibility.
Every player is entitled to his own ideals, politics and opinions. The responsibility comes in keeping those aspects of belief private.
Just because a player has notoriety, it doesn't make him a teacher or moral icon. Depending on the particular belief he broadcasts, it might not even make him a hero anymore.
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